The 12th edition of Asia’s largest night race, the OSIM Sundown Marathon, flagged off at the Singapore F1 Pit Building, last evening, 1 June 2019, with close to 25,000 runners participating in the event, pounding the streets as they embarked on their quests to beat the sunrise and break their personal bests.

Click here to view the OSIM Sundown Marathon 2019 photos.

Originally created in 2008 as part of a unique training programme for ultra-marathons that require running through the night, the OSIM Sundown Marathon, which has now become Singapore’s first Official Night Marathon, has grown significantly, from 6,000 runners in the 2008 edition to 25,800 runners in 2018.

Participated in the Half Marathon

This year, I took part in the Half Marathon category. This event had been scheduled to begin at 11:30pm.

Catching up with Team Astavita

After having my dinner, I got to the race site at around 9:30pm where I caught up with the Astavita team, most of whom had already finished the earlier 5km event. 

But Vincent Wood and another colleague at Astavita would be joining me in the Half Marathon category.

Nonetheless, everyone at Astavita had wished me good luck for my Half Marathon and we also took some group photos together, before they then headed off and left the race site, to get their supper.

I stayed around to chat with Vincent for a short while longer, before then checking out what else there was to do at the race village.

Race Village Was Very Happening

The race village at this point in time had been quite crowded, with runners from all of the categories converging there. 

It had been quite hard to make out which runners had already finished their race and who was about to embark on theirs amongst the throngs of events participants. Nevertheless, there had been a lot to see and do before the race, though.

With plenty of time to spare, I hung round the race village and caught up with some of my friends, including my running buddies from Coached, whom I train regularly with.

I noticed that the Black Panther movie was being screened but I have seen this movie already, so I did not feel the need to watch it again. Nonetheless, I thought that Black Panther was definitely one of the better Marvel movies, though.

As well, some Sunset Yoga sessions had been available for runners and their supporters too at the race village. But I did not attend any of these as I didn’t want to distract my focus away from the race ahead.

Instead, I spent some of my time relaxing in the VIP tent where there was a nice feast prepared, that included breaded prawns, fried rice and fish cooked in Western-style sauce. 

It had looked very yummy but I knew that if I ate anything, I would wind up having stomach cramps as I’d experienced several times during my runs in the past, so that meant I had to resist the urge to try anything.

Going To The Start Pen

I made my way towards the start pen at about 11:15pm to wait for the flag-off.

It turned out that the race itself flagged off 15 minutes late, with the first wave not setting off till 11:45pm.

The later waves were delayed even further, with the final wave not setting out till 12:30am in the morning. I could only imagine that those who had been taking part in the Full Marathon, who had started at the back, would have been very stressed about missing out on the race cut-off times. 

I also later found out that due to the delayed start, many of the Half Marathon runners had missed their pre-booked shuttle buses back home.

However, according to the organisers, they added an additional 5:45am shuttle bus for runners who had missed the earlier 3:00am and 4:30am buses, and runners could use their original e-tickets to board the buses, instead of having to re-purchase another one.

While we were waiting, the two emcees, Ross Sarpani and Kelly Latimer, constantly gave runners updates about the situation at hand.

I later found out that we were not allowed to start running because there was an obstruction on the running path, according to the Sundown Marathon’s Facebook page.

I chatted to Soh Rui Yong and wished him luck for his race, as well as exchanging a few words with the emcees, whilst waiting out the minutes to flag-off.

As well, I spied Captain America wielding Mjölnir and I took the opportunity to borrow Mjölnir for a quick photo. Yes, so it turns out that I am worthy after all – as I was actually able to lift up the iconic hammer. 

Apparently Captain America would be running the Full Marathon fully dressed in his costume – kudos to him for attempting this.

Finally Flagging Off

When we were finally flagged off, I had to mentally remind myself to back off the pace and to not go out with the front pack. 

In order to keep my pace under wraps, I decided to follow the two-hour pacers straight out of the blocks, until the human congestion had dissipated at least.

I knew that if I had allowed myself to get caught up in the excitement and set out at Rui Yong’s pace, that would definitely be way too fast!

After that, I slowed down and let the pacers go ahead, then I settled into a comfortable pace and rhythm, trying to make sure not to let my heart rate go up too much. I knew that it was going to be a long run, after all and I did not want to burn out too quickly.

Race Route

The race route took us from the F1 Pit Building through the city, passing several iconic Singapore landmarks such as the Sports Hub, Gardens By The Bay, The Gateway, Golden Mile and The Concourse. It is a route which I have run many times so I am familiar with it.

During the first quarter of the race, there had been a bit of confusion when we were running from Republic Avenue to Nicoll Highway. 

As a first wave runner, I’d been running on the right lane at Nicoll Highway at first but after the u-turn, I then saw the second wave of runners coming straight at me.

So together with some other runners, I ended up crossing the fence to get to the other side of the road.

Apparently this had been a mistake on the part of the organisers. Instead of the right side of the road as we’d been running, we were actually supposed to have taken the left side of the road towards City Hall and then after the u-turn, run on the right side in the direction of the Sports Hub.

With the exception of a couple of slopes somewhere around the Nicoll Highway area, the course had generally been a flat one, which I was quite thankful for. 

While I did not face any bottlenecks along the course myself, I thought that a few of the paths that we were running on, were quite narrow. I later heard from runners who had begun in the later waves, that there was indeed congestion and bottlenecks at these sections. So I was thankful that I had begun my race in the front pen.

A Humid Run

The night run also meant that it felt very humid even though there was no sun. 

Right from the beginning of my run, there was not much breeze and as a result, it was pretty stifling as I ran along, making it harder to breathe, as I continued on.

Race Hydration 

I counted a total of seven hydration points along the Half Marathon route altogether. I was able to pick up Pocari Sweat isotonic drinks from about three of them. The rest only had plain water. I’m not sure if this was because they had already run out of Pocari Sweat or if isotonic had simply not been available in the first place at these stations.

But I later found out that for the back-of-the-pack Half and Full Marathon runners, the drink stations completely ran out of hydration.

There had been one banana station too, at the 14km point for the Half Marathon runners, but I didn’t take one as I was feeling thirsty rather than hungry during the run.

However, the back-of-the-pack runners reported that this station too, had unfortunately run out of bananas. As well, energy gels were out of stock as well. For an endurance event, ensuring that there is an adequate supply of such items, should have been a top priority.

Route Was Dark

I also thought that the route was dark and not very well lit, but there were attempts by the organiser to put a couple of glow sticks at a few of the darker areas. I didn’t think they were very effective in providing light, though.

This was because there had been a couple of times during the run when I nearly tripped on the uneven ground but fortunately I managed to get my footing back just in time.

As well, on one occasion, another runner suddenly collided into me in the dark during one of the turns at the Kallang park connector. For a fleeting moment, I was scared and I thought that we were both going to topple over onto the ground, but thankfully that did not happen. I managed to get my balance back in time and continue running.

Getting Sleepy

As the long night wore on, I began to lose focus on the run and I gradually got more and more sleepy. It also did not help that there was not a soul present to motivate the runners. 

A few volunteers were standing at some of the points along the route, but it had seemed that many of them were either sleeping or had disinterested expressions on their faces. The ones who actually cheered us on, were few and far between.

And my body was protesting, with my mind also questioning what I was doing, running at an hour when I should be asleep.

As a result, about two thirds into the race, I found my pace slowing down and I told myself to just focus on completing the race.

I told myself that this was going to be my last-ever Sundown Marathon event. No, sleep cannot wait.

Intersection Point

When I saw the intersection point around 13km where the Full Marathon runners would go into East Coast Park and the Half Marathon runners continue to Gardens by the Bay, I was very glad that I was not running the Marathon. I really didn’t know if I would be able to mentally withstand the thought of running all the way down the East Coast Park and back again.

The only difference between the Half and the Full Marathon routes had been the repetitive out-and-back section at East Coast Park. So I suppose that this meant I had missed out on nothing.

Kilometer Markings

Nonetheless, I did think that the organiser did a good job in terms of marking out the kilometres along the way and also segregating the different paths for the various categories.

There were signages at each kilometre and these were accurate based on my Garmin. As well, the intersection point had been clearly marked with a huge sign, and then for several hundred metres after that, there were at least two signs alerting runners of the path that they were on.

For me, I knew that I had been on the right track when I saw the sign: “You are on the Half Marathon/10km Challenge Path.” This clarification had been good because it had meant that runners who may have made a wrong turn, could then quickly retract their steps and get back onto the right route.

Picking Up Pace

I picked up the pace again in the final couple of kilometres when I saw the 19km Marker, I told myself that the faster I ran through this point, the faster I would finish and then I could go back home to sleep after that. It was already past 2am in the morning by this point and I could feel my body wanting to shut down for the night.

Because I was tired and the race was wearing me down, it felt like there were miles between the 19km and the 20km markers, but when I finally saw the 20km one, I picked up the pace again, repeatedly telling myself that there was only 1km more to go by this point.

Naturally, it was such a relief to see the finish line ahead of me. It had been a challenging run throughout, battling against the humidity as well as my own internal body clock. Who on earth says that running Sundown Marathon is supposed to be easier than an early morning race?

My Finish

I ran through the finishing arch in just over 2 hours and 20 minutes for the Half Marathon.

I was surprised that there had been one finishing arch to represent all the categories. 

Most other races would usually segregate the runners in the different categories so that they would know easily when the frontrunners are arriving. As a result of this, the finish point was messy, with the Full Marathon winners getting mixed in among the masses for the Half Marathon.

Upon finishing my race, I took some photos at the end point before collecting my finisher entitlements which consisted of a banana, a can of Pocari Sweat and a bottle of water. 

At this point, I was so glad that I was running the Half Marathon and not the Full Marathon. At this point, I just couldn’t imagine having to carry on running another 21.1km immediately.

To collect our finisher medals, we had to walk down another several hundred metres to the F1 pit garages to pick them up. This had been quite confusing to a lot of runners, who were asking each other where the medal collection point was.

Back To The Race Village 

After that, though, I headed back out to the race village where had a look around. There had been a few photo booths as well as trucks hawking various varieties of food and drinks, ranging from burgers and nachos to ice cream and waffles. Quite a few runners were sitting around tucking in.

I also headed over to the VIP tent for a quick bite, getting some lemonade, Swiss rolls and pasta. I was thirsty, but not too hungry at this point. I think that my mouth was itchy though, which was what led me to munch on some of the food.

A booth on-site was also selling Sundown Marathon merchandise such as t-shirts and glow sticks. I did not really feel the need to purchase anything though.

UEFA Champions League Final

Deciding to chill out for a while as I’d been waiting for a friend to complete his Half Marathon race, I made my way over to the main stage, where a huge projector screen had been set up to telecast the UEFA Champions League Final live at 3am. It was an all-English final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

I managed to grab a seat on one of the beanbags at about 2:30am. Emcee Ross had been entertaining runners and asking football-related quiz questions in exchange for attractive goodie bags. 

I knew the answers to some of his questions but I was never able to be fast enough to answer them! Apparently after completing a Half Marathon at the ungodly hour of 2am in the morning, my body reflexes and reaction speed seemed to have slowed down to a crawl.

The game itself began at 3am and drew a considerable crowd, mostly Liverpool fans, who had gathered to watch the match live. I stayed around to catch the game too, and as a football fan, I had thought that this would be a great way to end the night.

The match started on a very unusual note, with Liverpool taking a very early lead in the second minute thanks to a penalty that Mo Salah had duly converted, awarded to the Reds because of a Moussa Sissoko handball in the penalty box. That had been virtually Salah’s first kick of the game.

Immediately, the Liverpool fans everywhere around me broke into cheers but on the other hand, everyone who was wearing white were silenced and shell-shocked by what they had just witnessed.

My friend arrived back at the F1 Pit Building soon after the match began and we both sat on the beanbags chatting for a bit about how the Half Marathon had went for both of us, while we were watching the first half of the game.

The excitement of the first couple of minutes aside, it was not a very interesting match to watch, though, as both sides were rather subdued; neither side seemed to be interested in showcasing the entertaining, swashbuckling style of football that had brought them to the final.

Though Spurs did recover well from that initial shock, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker made several world-class and crucial saves to deny Spurs throughout the course of the game. I was impressed by his agility and dexterity.

In the dying minutes of the game, Liverpool sealed the win with Divock Origi providing the crucial goal to break Spurs’ hearts.

This, together with Spurs’ inability to finish off their chances despite having 16 shots on target versus Liverpool’s 14, had resulted in Liverpool clinching their sixth Champions League title in their history.

The final score of the night had been Liverpool 2-0 Spurs.

The Liverpool fans around me were singing and celebrating wildly. I have to say that they definitely deserved it. Liverpool had defended well and they got the result that they had wanted.

But I don’t think that emcee Ross was too pleased with the result when he came up on the stage after the game. He’s a Spurs fan after all. Credit to him though. He was gracious about his team’s defeat.

For me, as an Arsenal fan, I had wanted to see a Liverpool victory this time round – because the alternative would have been completely unthinkable. So I am glad that I got my wish granted when the full-time whistle blew.

The Threat Of Rain

I have to say that it had actually threatened to rain sometime when I was watching the game though. This had began as a light drizzle which was still manageable, but then, the rain got heavier in the wee hours of the morning when I was already at the bus stop waiting for the first bus to come home. 

It was at this point when I thanked my lucky stars that I had not signed up for the Full Marathon. If I had, then I would have been forced to brave the rain during my run.

As it was only 5:20am and this was considered early for public transport to begin, this made it a longer than the usual wait at the bus stop and my body was threatening to doze off, so I took to scrolling lazily through my Facebook and Instagram feeds to stay awake – and so that I did not miss my bus.

I Enjoyed Myself 

Nonetheless I would say that I had still managed to enjoyed myself at the Sundown Marathon, despite the event’s shortcomings and problems, some of which I definitely feel the new organisers would need to look into, for future editions. This is because I think that runner safety should be the top priority in any mass sporting event such as a Marathon race.

Race Organisers Are Happy 

However, event organisers Infinitus Productions remarked that they were still quite happy with how the event had been. 

Said Jeffrey Foo, Director of Infinitus Productions Pte. Ltd, “It was indeed a night of celebrations to see the running community enjoy the cool breeze and breaking their personal bests.” 

He continued, “We are glad to be working with F4U on this journey of Sundown Marathon. The event has grown from strength to strength and it has been a delight to see runners enjoy the race and post-race festivities.”

Introducing A Virtual Running App

And now, with the aim of connecting even more runners, Infinitus Productions is also releasing a virtual running app where runners from all over the world can join in and run at the same time as the race in Singapore.

Said Foo, “Through the app, we want to make it possible to connect with runners not just physically at a race, but also virtually across borders.”

And continued Foo, “So runners in other countries who are not able to be here physically with us, can still be a part of it by running at the same time as the race in their own countries and have a virtual connection with us, through our app. Moreover, this app will also reward you with points that you can redeem for products from our merchants in the near future.”